“Dojo” is clearly not your ordinary rock album as Jouis from Brighton, U.K. are blending and combining jazz, fusion, west coast, psychedelica and progressive rock on their debut album. Strictly intended to the open minded as you definitely need to enjoy several different styles and genres of complex and difficult music to truly appreciate their vivid effort. Simply look away for the next couple of minutes if you’re only into simple and straight arrangements and top 40 easy listening.

Here’s a review from Swedish site Universumnoll (Roughly translated!):

‘As well jouis’ debut CD “Dojo” (self-publishing) which also had a bumpy road here, it was “lost” in the post for more than two months before it finally arrived with his revealing postmark. It meets my two favorite-V’s “well played” and “varied”. Harmonies, very guitar, a mixture of prog-looking shapes and a lot of jazz influences, like that nice timeless as part of the newly released Prog. 1972 is long gone but the DNA is there. Five are from Brighton, imagine a meeting between Moon Safari and Gosta Berling’s Saga but with a jazzy drummer. Type’

‘This Brighton based quintet’s debut sounds extremely well lived in. In June 2013 they set to work building their own studio by converting, and acoustically treating two rooms in an abandoned office block. As a result their debut “Dojo” has the relaxed sound of an album made in an unhurried fashion, in an environment where the band are completely at ease to explore any possible directions that their songs could go in, without time constraints or record company executives breathing down their collective necks.

“The track is beautifully hazey journey through dream-rock, prog and electronica, like Amnesiac-era Radiohead meets early Pink Floyd but with a pop-led futuristic vision. It’s wonderful, and it is accompanied by a fittingly mind-bending psychedelic trip of a video”

Taking their name from ‘jouissance’, the French word for ‘high enjoyment’, Jouis are five graduates from Brighton’s Institute Of Modern Music and their music ebbs and flows between jazz, folk, psychedelia and prog. “Their sounds,” we’re told, “are designed to open your mind and spirit you away to new lucid dimensions.” There’s a lazy, jazzy ambience throughout, even when the lyrics hint at the perils of consumerism (Hyperception) or eco decay (Misty Maker Stompy). With 2 EPs and a seven inch single under their belts, the festival favourites enlistewd the help of producer Phill Brown (Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin) to record their debut album live to tape. Opener All That Is And Is One sets the gently trippy tone, all liquid guitar and sun-dappled shimmer, switching halway to a more urgent jazz-rock surge with shades of Santana. There are portents of doom amid the hippie, beatific mood on Rain, but it’s the music, not the lyrics, that triumph. Prog fans will especially enjoy the keyboard arpeggio-fest on Universe Goggles. ‘Comfortably drifting along with the tide.’ they swoon on Misty Maker Stomp. That’s the album’s vibe conured up right there. PL

“Masterly ’70s-styled psych-folk-rock from Brighton quintet
The Scent of incense and musty odour of Afghan coats may hang heavy over Jouis’ debut, but – high praise indeed – it only confirms a notable immersion in records like David Crosby’s If Only I Could Remember My Name. That they’re former music students is no surprise: their musical proficiency, time changes and multi-layered harmonies are intricate and considered. But legendary producer Phill Brown brings experience of sessions with Traffic, ensuring the credibility of lengthy jams like ‘Hyperception’ – with its “kaleidoscopic psychotropic” chant – and the autumnal grooves of “L∞p”, which slides effortlessly into the archly titles “What’s New Guru?”. – Wyndham Wallace”